The relationships of medical libraries to Regional Medical Program planning.

The development of Regional Medical Program legislation is summarized and the activities of the new Division of Regional Medical Programs of the National Institutes of Health are described. The first grants for regional medical programs were activated 1 July 1966, and as of 30 June 1967, forty-nine had been awarded out of a possible total of fifty-five. The importance of excellent medical library facilities within each region, especially in all major teaching hospitals, with extensions down to the level of the community hospitals, was emphasized, and the concept of the community hospital as a learning center utilizing the most modern library concepts and teaching devices was commended. The Medical Library Association was asked whether training programs were being developed which would produce the numbers of personnel needed to staff the increased number of medical libraries of the future and whether new training programs were needed for service at the community hospital level.